I knew well enough what the brutal Erie meant by "Hidden
Children." But that I was one I never dreamed, nor had it occurred
to me that Lois was one, in spite of her strange history. For among
the Iroquois and their adopted captives there are both girls and
boys who are spoken of as "Hidden Persons" or "Hidden Children."
They are called Ta-neh-u-weh-too, which means, "hidden in the
husks," like ears of corn.
And the reason is this: a mother, for one cause or another, or
perhaps for none at all, decides to make of her unborn baby a
Hidden Child. And so, when born, the child is instantly given to
distant foster-parents, and by them hidden; and remains so
concealed until adolescence. And, being considered from birth pure
and unpolluted, a girl and a boy thus hidden are expected to
